Stefanos Tsitsipas has endeared himself to the Melbourne crowd after his Australian Open first-round win on Monday by using some Aussie slang - but he messed up one phrase badly.

The Greek third seed started the tournament in style with an impressive straight-sets win over Frenchman Quentyn Halys.

The 24-year-old crowd favourite, who has reached the Australian Open semi-finals three times in recent years, dropped just seven games in the first two sets and looked to be in fantastic form. 

In his on-court interview afterwards, Tsitsipas adopted a mock Aussie accent and used some local slang terms to describe his performance.

'Crikey, that was a ripsnorter mate,' he said. 'I'm really glad to be playing flat out, like a lizard in the water.'

Tsitsipas stumbled over the last line, which should have been 'flat out like a lizard drinking' - but the Melbourne crowd laughed along anyway.

'I'm going full in [on the slang], I'm committing... I'm happy I got the biscuit in the end, so it was great. I'm happy to be back in Australia, it's one of my favourite places to be playing tennis,' he continued.

'I'm committing to the slang, I don't do that often when I travel but when I'm back here I'm really liking my time playing tennis, getting to see some of my cousins and feel like home here.' 

'It's great being back, it's great getting support like this. It was challenging, he came up with some good tennis towards the end of the third set.'

Melbourne's strong ties to the Greek community are well-known, and Tsitsipas has often remarked at how much he enjoys making the trip down under.

The Greek No.1 also shares a bitter rivalry with Nick Kyrgios, with whom he had a verbal bust-up earlier this year - but unfortunately for fans they won't meet at the Open due to the Aussie's shock withdrawal on Monday. 

Tsitsipas will next take on talented young Aussie Rinky Hijikata on Wednesday for a place in the third round.